Arson Detected; Woman Is Jailed

A Blackshear woman has been jailed for arson and insurance fraud in connection with a fire on April 22 in the 4500 block of Mockingbird Lane, said Ware County Sheriff Randy Royal.
Michelle Sullivan, 48, of the 5000 block of Crosby Circle, Blackshear, was taken into custody Tuesday and booked into the Ware County jail on the charge of first degree arson and insurance fraud, said Royal.
On April 22, Ware County Fire and Rescue and Ware County Sheriff’s Department officials were dispatched to a house in the 4500 block of Mockingbird Lane. Royal said that after fire personnel extinguished the fire, detectives began an investigation and found numerous points of origin with the use of an accelerant at every location.
“We searched Sullivan’s car and found the accelerant and matches,” said Royal, who added that detectives felt she tried to deflect attention from her crime.
“In a detailed interview, she told them that an armed man had entered her house and threatened her with a knife on two separate days,” said Royal. “She had never reported any of this to law enforcement authorities.”
Sullivan filed an insurance claim on the burned property, which that led to her arrest, Royal said. She was arrested Tuesday night in Pierce County, he said.
Royal said Sullivan was to be taken before a magistrate this morning at the Ware County Sheriff’s Department jail courtroom.
The case remains under investigation by Detective Missy Thrift and State Fire Marshal Shane Taylor.